February 18, 2009

Asalamu Alaykum!

For those of you who came to Friday's meeting, it was short and inshAllah we intend on starting the meeting from 5 o'clock until magrib. I would like to thank the girls who came to the meeting prepared, please keep that up you all are doing GREAT alhamdulillah! From now on when you arrive at the meeting please get started with practicing and do NOT wait on a coach to tell you what to do.

Keep in mind that the coach is there to assist you, NOT to take care of you. You must respect the coaches and not criticize them, because you are the one competing NOT the coach meaning it is your duty as a competitor to follow up with the coaches and stay on track.

We are very short on time, we must be prepared when we get to MIST. Instead on focusing on the errors of the past, we must work on preventing those errors from reoccurring.

There are a lot of competitors who are not coming to the meetings, yet the coaches are not receiving any reason for this continued absence. If you are not coming to the meeting and you are not contacting your coaches to let them know your reason, then you are not getting prepared. Alhamdulillah the coaches are very understanding, but that does not give you the right to not show up to the meeting while your fellow competitors and coaches are coming to the meeting even though they have other responsibilities. The meetings are there in order to benefit you, thats why they are mandatory.

We have gone through the most critical aspect of this competition, the registration process. Now, we as a team must make it our priority to continue through this journey while personally contributing one way or the other. As a team, each individual must pick up their own weight and also give extra help where it is needed. Do not just take a backseat ride and leave ALL the responsibilities to your coaches assuming that it is THEIR job. NO, it is not their job..infact they are here volunteering their time and energy in order to help you and support you. Your coaches are neither receiving a prize nor money by taking on this responsibility. So why just wait around moaning and groaning about that your coaches are doing or not doing, do NOT waste your time with that which will give you no positive gain. You are doing this for the sake of Allah as everyone else is, so keep your intention pure and continue to prepare for MIST.

If either a coach or a competitor has made a mistake against you, PLEASE do not take it personally. We are all insan, the one who forgets. We forget and we make mistakes, PLEASE forgive and forget. DO NOT hold grudges against others for Allah(swt) forgives all.

InshAllah we have our weekly schedule meeting at 5 o'clock. Please arrive on time as you did last week, jazakAllah Khayrun. Keep your head in the competition and do Not get distracted by the fitnah of the shaytan.

REMEMBER TO BRING YOUR ROUGH DRAFTS TO FRIDAY'S MEETING AND IF YOU ARE 13 BE SURE TO BRING YOUR EDITED, PROPERLY FORMATTED PAPER INSHALLAH.

Basketball practice TODAY, Wednesday at 5:00 at Masjid As-sunnah for those of you who can make it. BRING A BASKETBALL and start practicing immediately when you get there inshAllah!

GO TEAM!! YAY! POP!(Pearls of Paradise)

See you all soon inshAllah! Have a wonderful week!

Wa Salamu Alaykum!

Weekly Update and Registration Info

Asalamu Alaykum sisters!I hope you are all doing good.

Update from last Friday's Meeting:The last meeting was focused on turning the MIST registration fee, or at least half of it($30). Alhamdulillah, most of you turned in the money, unfortunately some of you did not. If you did not turn in your MIST registration money please do so ASAP! Feel free to approach any of the coaches or call the coaches if you have any questions or concerns. The coaches met with you one by one in order to communicate with you directly and personally.

For those of you who have turned in the MIST registration fee, you are now ready to start the registration process. It is VITAL that we receive your assistance, otherwise this process will become very difficult. I pray that you have received Ayan's email regarding MIST registration. If you did not receive her email, i will reiterate that YOU are responsible for making sure that you are registered for MIST. IT IS NOT THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE MIST COACHES TO FILL OUT YOUR MIST FORM AND KEEP UP WITH IT. YOU must fill out the MIST competitor registration form, then make sure that your coaches receive in time to send it out on time. I suggest that you do this ASAP seeing as the MIST registration deadline is fast approaching(February 14,2009). The coach who will be sending the registration form should receive your form no later than Tuesday in order to make certain that ALL the MIST registration forms get there ASAP!This is the MOST stressful part of the competition so please cooperate with your teammates as well as your coaches inorder to ensure that the registration goes as smoothly as possible, please be patient and helpful during this time. Keep in mind, there are many competitors in our team, as a coach we (coaches) can NOT keep up with every single person and their registation, YOU must take responsibility for yourself and make sure you are registered.Aside from registration, you must be aware that we have a few meeting before the BIG day(March 21st). Instead of waiting on your coaches to tell you what to do, please be responsible enough to research the competitons you are interested in competing. GO TO www.getmistified.com, browse the website, get familiar with your competition as well as this year's theme (Hometown heroes). Show your coaches how interested and dedicated you are. Take the next step by practicing for your competition, etc. DO NOT JUST WAIT FOR THE NEXT MEETING! REMEMBER, you are the competitor NOT your coach, so please start preparing for your competition. The coach is there as a guide to help you through this competiton, a coach is not there to play your parent, or to do every single thing for you..please be considerate and take responsibility for yourself.NEXT FRIDAY'S MEETING:By the next meeting(Friday February 13), ALL MIST competitiors should be registered. If you are NOT registered by the next meeting, then this means you are not competing in MIST 2009. Be present for this meeting, if you fail to come to this meeting without an important excuse, you will face possible extinction from the team. YOU must come to the meeting prepared with knowledge about the competitions that you are interested in participating in. Your coaches will assist in answering questions you may have about your competitions, but keep in mind that your coaches will not provide you information about YOUR competition, this is where responsibility comes in. You have to go out of your way and find out what are the requirements of your competion are.For those of you who are taking the initiative to help make this process go smoothly, we thank you, May Allah (swt) reward for it. Let us please take their example and pitch in as much as possible because we are a team and being a team means helping one another and working together.If you have questions or concerns, please contact any of your MIST coaches.

See you all 5 o'clock NOT 6 o'clockFriday inshAllah! BE SURE TO PLAN AHEAD FOR TRANSPORTATION! DO NOT WAIT LAST MINUTE AND CALL AYAN! If you have done this in the past, please do NOT repeat the same action. Please be considerate, Ayan is your teammate NOT your parent or your coach. She should not no longer be bothered..if she is nice enough to give you a ride alhamdulillah otherwise please find your own transportation or call any of your MIST coaches ahead of time. ALSO you should be there at 5 o'clock, DO NOT call at 5:30 asking for a ride, time is short so please be punctual, as a Muslim we must keep our promises and not take them lightly, PLEASE keep your promise to be there at 5 o'clock. JazakAllah Khayrun!Wa Salamu Alaykum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatu!